Book Review: The One From The Other

While on vacation, I read The One From The Other by Philip Kerr. Following the action of the brilliant Berlin Noir (Kerr's first books - March Violets, The Pale Criminal and A German Requiem), it continues the adventures of Bernie Gunther, a down in his luck investigator in pre-World War II Germany. He rubs shoulders with many of the evil men who were soon to make their dark mark on the world. The One From The Other picks up Bernie's life after World War II, where he is running a bed and breakfast just outside of Dachau, of all places.

One thing leads to another and he is quickly embroiled in the trials of the Red Jackets, war criminals held in prison. Soon he is beaten up and sucked into a bigger web of lies.

Once again, Kerr hits gold. Some of the ugly details of concentration camps and the pure evil of the SS can get a little hard to read. And I think the final web remains too big and random to have actually been planned, a common failure of many mysteries. I was never convinced there weren't much easier ways for the criminals to do what they wanted to do. But not enough to keep me from turning the next page as I blazed through it.

If you haven't read the Berlin Noir trilogy, I highly recommend it. And then follow it up with The One From The Other and, next on my reading list, book 5 starring Gunther, Hitler's Peace (wrong book - it's) A Quiet Flame